Wall passage liner and doors therefor



Nov. 6, 1962 s. INDORANTE 3,

WALL PASSAGE LINER AND DOORS THEREFOR Filed March 9, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet l Fig. 3

Sam lndorame IN VEN TOR.

WWW 15m 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Nov. 6, 1962 s. INDORANTE WALL PASSAGE LINER AND DOORS THEREFOR Filed March 9, 1960 LEE Fig. 5

rates 3,062,278 Patented Nov. 6, 1962 3,062,278 WALL PASSAGE LINER AND DOORS THEREFOR Sam Indorante, 586 N. Schuyler Ave., Kankakee, Ill. Filed Mar. 9, 1960, Ser. No. 13,796 1 Claim. (Cl. 160-92) The present invention relates, broadly speaking, to a lined opening or passage through a basement wall just above ground level and which has inside and outside closures or doors at the respective ends thereof so that by opening the doors the nozzle-equipped end portion of a hose from a fuel oil suppliers truck may be caused to enter the basement or cellar space, and so that the hose nozzle may be operatively connected with the filler neck of a storage tank in the basement. Stated'otherwise, the invention has to do with a readyto u's'e sheet metal or an equivalent liner for the walls of the storage tank'access passage and wherein said liner is provided. with one or two, preferably two, doors which are normally closed but may be opened-to serve the needs of the oil truck attendant. V

In carrying out the underlying principles of the invention a simple, practical and economical passage, or alternatively, liner for a passage through the aforementioned basement wall makes it possible for the attendant on the fuel oil supply truck to replenish the supply of oil in a storage tank in a basement whereby to thus reduce to a minimum the time and difficulties frequently met in carrying out the supplying and servicing steps which are currentlybeing resorted to and followed.

More specifically, novelty is predicated on a wall opening or passage liner having telescoping tubular sections permitting the liner to be adjusted to fit into a passage which may be short or long, depending on the cross-section of the wall, the outer end portion of said tubular sections having lateral surface contacting flanges which may be securely flashed in place for satisfactory installation.

Another object of the invention pertains to an extensible and contractible sheet metal or an equivalent tube which serves not only as a liner but as a duct for taking outside air into the basement for ventilating the basement. To this end, both end portions of the duct are provided with insect intercepting screens and louverequipped doors.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

' FIG. 1 is a view in perspective showing a fragmentary portion of a brick or an equivalent wall which may be regarded as-a portion of a basement wall and which has a passage in which the duct and liner has been installed;

FIG. 2 is a section on the vertical line 22 of FIG. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 3 is a view on a larger scale showing the complete ready-to-install device in perspective and illustrating the interior end thereof;

FIG. 4 is a section with parts in elevation on the plane of the line 44 of FIG. 3, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 5 is a cross-section on the line 55 of FIG. 4 looking in the direction of the arrows; and

FIGS. 6 and 7 are exaggerated detail sections on the lines 66 and 7-7 of FIG. 5.

Briefly, and by Way of introduction to the description of the details, the concept has to do with a prefabricated easy-to-install device of the general type seen in FIG. 3 and which is primarily a storage tank access device adapted to be mounted in a supply hose opening provided therefor in said basement wall, said device being adapted to provide occupant controlled access to the basement and tank, a ready-to-use liner for the walls of said opening embodying extensible and contractible inner and outer telescoping sleeves capable of being slid relative to each other in a manner adjusted to cause said liner to conform with the length of the opening, said outer sleeve having a lateral flange at an outer end thereof adapted to abut surfaces of the wall surrounding the outer end of the opening, the inner sleeve also having outstanding marginal flanges to abut the exterior surface of said wall, said sleeves being adapted to permit the aforementioned hose to be passed through the then lined opening for filling the tank, an outside door hingedly mounted on the outer end of the cooperating outer sleeve and normally closing the opening and preventing access to said storage tank, and retaining and fastening means for said door located within the confines of the sleeves and on the interior side of the door so that said door may not be opened by un authorized persons but may be intentionally unfastened by the house occupant from within the basement.

With further reference to the invention and concerning the phase thereof which has to do with ventilating a basement room and also keeping out insects and unwanted animals, the tube itself defines a passage which, as before mentioned, may be identified as a duct. Therefore, it is an aspect of the invention to employ an extensible and contractible duct. For this reason it is desirable to use the term duct whenever applicable and liner when used, for instance, in the manner illustrated in FIG. 2. With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 the basement wall is denoted at 8, the outside thereof at 10 and the inside at 12. The horizontal passage or opening through the Wall is denoted at 14. It is in this passage that the sheet metal tubular telescoping sections 16 and 18 fit in the manner shown. With further reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 it is to be pointed out that this is the simpler form of the invention and for this reason the description will be restricted to these two figures at this stage. With this in mind it will be evident that the laterally directed marginal flanges 20 are bent out and are located in position as shown best in FIG. 1. In actual practice, these flanges form a sort of a frame and this frame is flashed into position in any suitable manner. A simple setscrew 22 with finger-grips 24 provides a fastening functioning to retain the sections 16 and 18 in relative relationship as illustrated. The inside door or closure comprises a simple metal or an equivalent panel 26 which is hinged as at 28 and is readily openable and closable. This particular door would, of course, be on the basement room side. When the nozzle of the hose is pushed against the door it is forced open in the manner illustrated in phantom lines in FIG. 2. The outside door comprises a similar sheet metal or an equivalent imperforate panel which is likewise hingedly mounted in place on the cooperating end of the liner section 18 as at 32. A key controlled lock 34 is denoted generally in the manner shown and in practice the suppliers attendant would have a key to unlock it and thus swing the door to open position for purposes of passing the hose through the lined passage into the basement room and thereafter connecting the nozzle with the filler neck of the storage tank. It would be assumed that the filler neck would be in line with the passage and perhaps even in a position or so constructed and arranged that the hose connection could be made in an expeditious manner. Under other circumstances the attendant might have to enter the house and go into the cellar or basement and make the necessary hook-up.

With reference to the modification which is disclosed in FIGS. 3 to 7, inclusive, it will be evident by comparison that this adaptation is equivalent in many respects to that already described. Here again, the sheet metal tubing, which is also extensible and contractible, may

be construed as either a duct or a liner. The outer duct or liner section is denoted by the numeral 36 and is provided at the outer end with a rigid frame-like flange 33 having a laterally bent rim or lip 40 which facilitates fitting the flange against the wall surface (not detailed). The flange means may be of the cross-section shown in FIG. 7 which necessitates doubling the edge of the metal for rigidity. The door or closure in this construction is unique in that it also functions as a ventilator. This door, hereinafter designated as the outer door, is denoted as an entity by the numeral 42 and comprises a marginal frame 44 and rigid spaced parallel coplanar slats 46 and 48, the last-named slat being at the approximate horizontal center as perhaps best shown in FIG. 4 and again in FIG. 6. Suitable guide flanges (FIGS. 6 and 7) are provide on the interior of the frame and a shutter 50 is slidably cooperable with these guide flanges. The shutter comprises slidable or adjustable fixed slats 52 which cooperate with the slats 46 and 43 in either opening or closing the shutter means or ventilator. The center slat as seen in FIG. 6 at 54 is provided with a knob 56 which constitutes a handle and which functions to open and close the shutter and also the door in an obvious manner. This shutter means is spanned or covered on the inner side by an appropriately constructed and fixedly attached insect intercepting screen 58. This door is hingedly mounted (not detailed) in a manner that it may be readily opened and closed and provides a ventilating shutter and an insect screen. With reference to FIG. 7, one marginal edge of the door frame is provided with an inwardly projecting lug or bracket 59 having a hooked bill providing a keeper 60 for the pivoted loop or bail 62 constituting a part of the door latching means. The latch lever 64 is hingedly mounted at one end as at 66 and by swinging the lever toward and from the door the catch 62 can be readily engaged with the keeper 60. This lever is also provided with a slotted extension which is suitably shaped and bent as seen in FIG. 4 and which constitutes a hasp 68, said hasp being engageable with a fixed staple 70 which may be utilized, if desired, to accommodate a padlock (not shown). The point to be made here is that a suitable padlock controlled hasp and staple fastener provides an eflicient catch or fastener to keep the outer door closed. On the expected day of delivery the owner of the house may unfasten the catch so that the door 42 will be ready for opening when the oil deliveryman calls.

Insofar as the inside door is concerned it is much the same in construction and with reference to FIG. 3 it will be seen that this inside door is denoted generally by the numeral 72 and has a frame 74 hingedly mounted at 76 on the outstanding flange means 78 which, in use, is applied in the manner seen in FIG. 2. This door embodies fixed spaced parallel coplanar slats 80 the central slat 82 having a slot 84 to accommodate the shank of the knob 86 which serves to operate the inside slide 88 (see FIG. 4), the latter slide having slats 90 to cooperate with the already described slats and having a wide central slat 92 to which the shank 94 of the knob is connected for convenient operation. In this arrangement a suitable insect screen is also used and this is interiorly mounted to span the ventilating slots 01' openings. It follows that the telescoping duct has inner and outer hingedly mounted knob-equipped doors each with shutter means and insect screen means. With respect to the door 72 it will be obvious that the tubular sleeve or section 98 is connected thereto and that the two sleeves 36 and 98 fit telescopingly together and may be held in adjusted positions by the bolt 100 and nut means 102 (see FIG. 5).

It will also be evident that with this telescoping construction provision for mounting the same in walls of different sizes is achieved. Also, the installer will find it easy and practical to install the flanged door-equipped sleeves from the inside and outside positions of the wall with no trouble. If desired, a simple pivoted latch 104 (FIG. 3) may be provided for the inner door 72.

Although the disclosure reveals the duct or liner as embodying telescoping adjustably connected sleeves or tube-sections 36 and 98 and fastening means therefor it will be obvious that the concept comprehends a duct of prescribed length which may be custom-made for a given job and wherein the door at the inner end may be applied as a separate assembling and clamping device.

The invention lends itself to practical adoption and use for installation in any wall thus providing suitable ventilation from one room to another and an openable and closable passageway with the closure means providing suitable controllable ventilators. Therefore, the object which is to be passed through the passageway might be presented to either the inner or outer ends (or vice versa) of the passageway as is believed to be reasonably clear and evident from the disclosure.

The present application is a continuation-in-part of my co-pending application Serial No. 570,853, filed March 12, 1956, now abandoned.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

A storage tank access device for installation in a basement wall opening provided therefor adjacent a fuel storage tank stationed in the basement near said opening comprising an open-ended sleeve providing a passageway having inner and outer ends provided with outstanding lateral flanges abutting cooperating inner and outer surfaces of said wall, an outer door operatively hingedly mounted on the outer end of said sleeve and normally closing the opening at said outer end, latching means cooperable with said outer door and an interior surface of one wall of said sleeve and functioning to maintain the outer door normally closed, said latching means being secluded within the confines of said passageway and controllable by the resident from an indoors reach-in-position, said outer door being provided with ventilating shutter means embodying interconnected spaced fixed slats and complemental interconnected spaced movable slats slidable relative to the fixed slats from a closed position wherein said movable slats close the spaces between the fixed slats to a ventilating position wherein the spaces between the fixed slats are open, said shutter means being spanned by a fixed insect screen, a knob connected to and for operating the movable slats, said knob being located within the confines of the passageway, an inner door hingedly mounted on the inner flanged end of said sleeve and likewise provided with ventilating shutter means embodying interconnected spaced fixed slats and cooperating interconnected spaced movable slats slidable relative to the fixed slats from a closed position wherein said movable slats close the spaces between the fixed slats to a ventilating position wherein the spaces between the fixed slats are open, said shutter means being spanned by a fixed insect screen located outwardly of said shutter means, and a knob secured to the last-named movable slats for opening and closing the shutter means, said last-named knob being disposed on the indoors side of the inner door each of said knobs functioning to open and close the doors and also open and close their respectively associated by the resident from a position in the basement.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Chaney June 15, McElligott et a1. Apr. 2, Glass Feb. 16, Martin et a1. May 1, Arnold et al. Nov. 11, Honens Dec. 30, Johnson May 8, Etling June 10, Fritsche Dec. 18,

Bauder Apr. 28,

slats 

